- 2,933,396 United States Patent Office Patented Apr. 19, 1960 . 2 cipes calling for the use of baking powder specify a tea spoon or a fraction thereof as the unit of measure. Con 2,933,396 sequently, a standard has been developed which is adhered BAKNG POWDER to by most of the manufacturers of baking powder in the 5 United States. A standard "level teaspoon" comprises Frank G. Miller, Lake Bluff, Ill., assignor to General about 4.93 cc. and this amount of baking powder must be Foods Corporation, White Plains, N.Y., a corporation capable of providing from about 0.50 to about 0.63 g. of of Delaware carbon dioxide. No Drawing Application April 30, 1958 In addition to the above limitations, a baking powder Serial No. 731889 . 10 to be sold in normal retail channels must remain stable for a considerable length of time. This period includes 8 Claims. (C), 99-95) the time required for commercial distribution and sale, as well as the time required for use in the home. The sta bility problem with baking powder is due to moisture ab The present invention relates to a new and improved sorption causing the carbon dioxide evolution to occur baking powder composition. prematurely. The desired stability and the required vol Baking powders have long been used in the baking of ume and weight standards are presently achieved by the biscuits, cakes, and various oven goods to impart to them use of a cornstarch filler. It provides the necessary bulk. an open or leavened texture. They generally contain a to the product. Also, it physically spaces the acid react water soluble bicarbonate (soda), one or more acid re 20 ing ingredients from the bicarbonate and has the import acting ingredients, and an inert filler, such as starch, cal ant property of preferentially absorbing moisture which cium carbonate, or flour. In the presence of water at may contact the baking powder. room temperature, the acid reacting ingredients and the Cornstarch is not entirely satisfactory, however, be-, bicarbonate react to provide some of the available carbon cause of its relatively high cost. The baking powder in dioxide. This is the condition obtained in the batter stage 25 dustry, therefore, has long sought a replacement for it. of preparing baked goods. During subsequent baking Calcium carbonate has been used but it fails to provide of the batter, additional carbon dioxide is evolved from any worthwhile stabilization. Flour is also unacceptable the baking powder composition. The heat of baking not because it becomes rancid. Other fillers fail for one rea only accelerates the evolution of carbon dioxide, but also son or another. As a result, substantially all baking pow causes the gas bubbles which have been entrapped in the 30 ders are presently prepared with cornstarch. In view of batter to expand. Thereafter the batter is set in the well its relatively high cost, it would be desirable to employ known manner. another filler as a total or partial replacement for the Various materials, such as mono-calcium phosphate, cornstarch, preferably one which also allows further sav sodium aluminum sulfate, potassium acid tartrate, disodi ings to be realized by reducing the bulk density of the um dihydrogen pyrophosphate, and calcium lactate, have 35 baking powder formulation while meeting the leavening been employed as the acid-ingredients of conventional gas requirements of the aforementioned standard level baking powders. Of these, sodium aluminum sulfate teaspoon. and/or monocalcium phosphate are most frequently used. It is an object of the present invention to provide a bak These two materials, designated hereinafter as SAS and ing powder having a filler which permits an economical MCP for convenience, are used independently or com 40 reduction in the bulk density of baking powders, does not bined in various proportions depending on the speed of introduce a stability problem and permits a reduction in reaction desired. Commercial SAS reacts to a relatively the level of active ingredients required to develop a given small extent with the bicarbonate in the batter stage, the volume of leavening gas per level teaspoon of baking major part of the reaction occurring during baking. powder. MCP, on the other hand, is "faster acting' and reacts to It has now been discovered that an insoluble hydrated a major extent in the batter stage, leaving the lesser 45 silicate such as hydrated calcium silicate can be employed amount of reaction to occur in the course of baking. A as a total or partial replacement for the fillers of the prior combination baking powder which employs both SAS and art in baking powder. MCP is called a "double acting' baking powder because It has been found that such silicates are compatible of its ability to liberate a certain amount of the available with the active ingredients of baking powder and extend carbon dioxide in the batter stage while also releasing a 50 their normal shelf life. Whether the silicate is employed substantial amount thereafter in the baking stage. as a total or partial replacement for starch, the bulk It is readily apparent that the most perfect baking density of the product can be reduced to a greater extent powder is one which provides the optimum amount of gas than has heretofore been possible, allowing savings in the at the optimum rate at each stage in the preparation of total cost in the filler material employed. the baked goods. In the past, many attempts have been It has also been quite uneexpectedly noted, that when made to alter the amounts of gas evolved in the various silicates are employed in baking powder, a saving in the stages of preparing baked goods as well as to alter the level of active chemical ingredients can be realized. In rate at which the gas is evolved. The principal problem, the practice of compounding baking powder the level of however, concerns the amount of gas liberated in the bak acid salts necessary to liberate the greatest proportion of ing stage. Although SAS provides a greater amount of 60 the carbon dioxide gas theoretically available from the carbon dioxide in the baking stage, its use is limited. soda is substantially greater than the level which is theo Too great an amount of SAS imparts an off-flavor to the retically required. Thus in a standard baking powder baked goods containing it. The deficiency of carbon di formulation employing cornstarch as a filler about 100 oxide evolution in the baking stage cannot be corrected lbs. of mono-calcium phosphate (MCP) would be re by using more of a faster acting acid ingredient such as quired to liberate a maximum of 91.8% of the carbon MCP because the amount of gas evolved in the batter dioxide gas theoretically available from 83 lbs. of sodium stage will result in overleavening. bicarbonate. When employing hydrated calcium silicate The limitations involved in formulating a baking pow either as a complete or a partial replacement for starch der result from the well established standards for its use, 'filling' in baking powder, it is observed that the acid as well as its functional requirements. All standard re salts are more effective in producing carbon dioxide gas 3 2,983,896 in that a substantially greater proportion of the theoreti cally available carbon dioxide gas is released from the Ingredients Composition (Percent) by soda. As a consequence, this invention offers the oppor Weight for Formula tunity to effect savings in reducing the level of acid salts. Sod.----------------------------------------- 38 35. 32 40 required to develop a given volume of leavening gas per 5 MOF---------------------------------------- 10 - 9 9 0 teaspoon or other measure of baking powder. CaSO.-- O 13 i5 ------ SAS----------- 28 25 24 34 The preferred silicate employed as a filler is hydrated calcium silicate, a soft, highly absorptive, white, finely Cornstarch---. precipitated mineral having the following physical and Hydrated calcium silicate--- chemical properties: ... O 100 100 100 100 Bulk density ---------------------lbs./cu. ft.-- 12 While the present invention has been described with Specific gravity--------------- -------------- 2:1 particular reference to specific examples, it is not to be Average particle size --------------microns. 0.030 limited thereby, but reference is to be had to the appended Surface area ----------------- sq. meters/gm-- 80 claims for a definition of its scope. pH in 5% water Suspension ----------------- 10.0 What is claimed is: Loss at 105 C. ---------------------percent.-- 5 1. Baking powder containing an insoluble hydrated silicate. is . :. Loss on ignition ----------------------do---- 15 2. Baking powder containing a hydrated calcium SiO2 --------------------------------do---- 64 silicate. CaO --------------- -----------------do---- 18 20 3. Baking powder comprising soda, at least one acid. Fe3O3 -------------- -----------------do---- 0:15 salt for reaction with the soda to produce carbon dioxide, . Al2O3 ------------------------- as a -- a-dol -- 0.6 starch, and an insoluble hydrated silicate. , MgO -------------------------------do---- 0.1 4. Baking powder comprising sodium bicarbonate, NaCl ------------------------------- do---- 1.5 mono-calcium phosphate, sodium aluminum sulfate, and Although this silicate is preferred, other insoluble silicates an insoluble hydrated silicate. may be employed, such as magnesium silicate. 5. Baking powder comprising sodium bicarbonate, Experimentation has shown that where a hydrated cal mono-calcium phosphate, sodium aluminum sulfate, cium silicate is substituted for cornstarch in a baking starch, and an insoluble hydrated silicate. powder composition there is a considerable reduction in 6. Baking powder comprising sodium bicarbonate, the percent of the initial carbon dioxide lost in the bak 30 mono-calcium phosphate, sodium aluminum sulfate, and ing powder upon storage. After six weeks' accelerated hydrated calcium silicate powder. storage of the baking powder composition at 70. F. and 7. Baking powder comprising sodium bicarbonate, 62% relative humidity, the baking powder composition mono-calcium phosphate, sodium aluminum sulfate, containing a cornstarch filler lost 10.6% of the initial starch, and hydrated calcium silicate powder.